Shingles: a personal experience

IF YOU EVER HAD CHICKENPOX, the bugs that caused it remain in
your system for life. However, if you’re lucky, you’ll never really know they
are there, hiding out. That’s if you’re lucky. Unfortunately though, about a third of us will at some time in life be reacquainted with the nasty
devils – in the form of shingles. No one knows for sure exactly what
reactivates them. Stress is often said to play a role. If so, what kind of
stress? From what I can gather, practically any kind: physical, emotional, even
having the flu. And it can strike at any time, though vulnerability increases
with age.

If
you’d like a more medical/technical definition of shingles, the following is
from the excellent medical website, UpToDate:

“Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection causes two clinically
distinct forms of disease. Primary infection with VZV results in varicella
(chickenpox), characterized by vesicular lesions in different stages of
development on the face, trunk, and extremities. Herpes zoster, also known as
shingles, results from reactivation of endogenous latent VZV infection within
the sensory ganglia. This clinical form of the disease is characterized by a
painful, unilateral vesicular eruption, which usually occurs in a restricted
dermatomal distribution.”

So about one in three
of all adults, mostly otherwise healthy, will get shingles during their
lifetimes, usually after age 50. Since the incidence increases with age, it
is 10 times more likely to occur in adults over 60 than in children under 10. And a
measure of severity of pain is said to double among people over
70 as compared to those 60 to 69 years old.

A vaccination can reduce your risk of getting shingles, but it
is not a 100% guarantee you will be immune. I was vaccinated and it got me anyway. Nevertheless, put the odds in your favor. Get the shot. It is also
claimed that vaccinated sufferers have less severe experiences.

Here's my story

In mid-June, 2014, I noticed a light headache at and just above
my left eye. Over the next three days my eye itself became irritated and I also
felt a tingling sensation that ran from my eyebrow and forehead to up above
hairline.

I made an appointment with my primary care doctor who sent me to
an ophthalmologist. He diagnosed it as a stye and prescribed an eye salve. I
went back a day or so later when the pain got worse and blisters started forming
on my forehead and around my eye. He told me I had shingles and prescribed an
antiviral medication to be taken over the next five days. He said he’d see me again
in one week.

(Antiviral meds cannot cure shingles but are said to mitigate
the length and/or severity of the outbreak.)

During
the first week the blisters fully formed on the left side of my face, at eye
level, and into my scalp to the top of my head (see photo).

The pain was intense and unrelenting, a burning sensation, as if
my face were on fire, plus a throbbing headache and eye pain. My wife applied
hot and cold compresses. Still the pain was so bad that I paced the floors at
night because I could not sleep.

My next appointment with the doctor was early in the second week
and the blisters had started to crust over and fall off. He said I had about
another week to go and then I’d be fine. I told him the pain was excruciating.
He prescribed the painkiller Vicodin (which turned out to be like using a BB
gun to bring down a grizzly bear). He said there was no need for another
appointment. “Just tough it out,” he added.

At least I could count the days until I “would be fine” as I “toughed
it out.”

Seeking further relief

My wife is a schoolteacher and her principal told her that when she
had shingles a local acupuncturist helped her deal with the pain. We made an
appointment. The second week had passed, and, except for a swollen eye, my face now looked almost normal. I had five sessions with the acupuncturist. He said
my doctor should have me on something called gabapentin. The acupressure and
acupuncture points he hit relaxed me and I felt pain relief while there, but it
was short-lived after I left.

I made another appointment with the ophthalmologist. He seemed
surprised to see me. My eye was still partially closed and I was still having
unrelenting pain and asked for something stronger to dull it. Standing at a distance,
he said, “I don’t know anything about narcotics. See your primary care doctor.”
With that said, Dr. Warm Bedside Manner made a quick exit. My wife said to me
afterward, “Did you notice he couldn’t wait to get out of the room? He doesn’t
want to treat you.”

Patty called my primary care doctor. By now about three weeks
had passed since the shingles diagnosis. Right away, my primary doctor
prescribed gabapentin (the acupuncturist was right) and oxycodone. She set me
up with a different ophthalmologist and also a neurologist. Taking the
gabapentin and oxycodone provided enough pain relief that I could, at last,
sleep at night . . . and through most of the day. The meds made me drowsy and
dopy. But that was okay with me: anything to escape the pain.

About a month had gone by before I saw the new ophthalmologist.
She gave my eye the thorough examination the first eye specialist had glossed
over. I had developed a bacterial eye infection and she prescribed an
antibiotic. Gradually, the swelling went down. She tested my vision at
subsequent appointments and it was slowly moving towards normal. (Permanent vision
damage or even blindness can result from a shingles attack.)

Now we were no
longer dealing with actual shingles but something called “post herpetic
neuralgia,” or PHN. PHN sometimes follows shingles, especially in the elderly
or younger people with compromised immune systems. It is intense pain often
described as burning, stabbing, or gnawing. Affected areas of your body may be
hypersensitive or may have decreased sensation.

Enter the neurologist. My wonderful wife had never complained
about nightly awakenings to apply hot compresses and dispense meds. But the
neurologist prescribed a time-released kind of gabapentin called Gralise (it’s
expensive and regular gabapentin isn’t) that you take only once a day. I found that
now I could sleep, mostly pain free, through the night, and Patty could get uninterrupted
sleep too. I stopped taking the oxycodone, which was great when the pain was
intense. But it is a narcotic that can be habit forming.

The shingles aftermath

As I write this today, I’m entering the third month since
diagnosis. Vision in my left eye is not quite back to normal but seems to be getting
there. I’m still taking Gralise. From time to time, I still get minor eye and
forehead pain. However, it doesn’t last long.

I have no feeling on my eyelid and along my eyebrow, and the
skin above to my hairline feels like leather to the touch. I’m told it may
gradually return to normal, or maybe not. But I look like my normal self. Once
daily, I apply Topricin, a Homeopathic therapy foot cream – yes, foot cream – my wife learned about from a masseuse. It was a
godsend in relieving itching I sometimes experienced at night when things were tough.

Finally, not all shingles sufferers experience the lengthy
ordeal of a PHN aftermath. On the other hand, for those
less fortunate, PHN can go on even a lot longer than mine did. Yet anybody who has had shingles, regardless of its
length, will tell you it is a miserable experience.

Improve your odds of avoidance: get vaccinated. Should you ever think
an attack is starting, get to the doctor right away. Taking the five-day
antiviral meds as quickly as possible is important. Also be lucky enough to
have a spouse, friend or significant other to help you out - unless you’re a whole
lot tougher than I am.

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